AA Exec Platinum's response to AA email
 

An AA executive platinum receives an email from AA customer service: AA exec-Platinum's email back to Suzanne Rubin...
And now a comment by a industry buff but not a pilot. thank you for your comments. I wish every passenger wrote Suzanne. On a side note, eagle pilots are voting. I hope they do what's best for the airline pilot industry and don't give into scare tactics.

I am an AAdvantage Gold Member and was looking to write her a letter as well. I wanted to send it directly to her email account but I can not find her company email address. Any ideas on where I should send this email to get the most impact for my effort?

A little birdie from AA said "Items found during pre-flight that were not told to MX until block time."

Or

Crews refusing aircraft because of ANY MEL's on it.

AA customer service worded the email correctly.

Just exactly when is it you think we do the preflight inspection?

What a management troll that post was.

Start with this [email protected]. Maybe write in the body of your email and ask to forward this email to Suzanne Rubin.

Try [email protected]

Exactly!

Pilots' bags can't be placed and left on jet bridge before preflight walk around, that would be a violation of TSA rules. Their bags must be stored. It takes a few minutes to walk around the aircraft. Then walk back to the flight deck and notify the captain. Then call maintenance.

USA today/wall street journal

I'm not a pilot. I am an AA Gold/Platinum member that has been flying AA religiously since 1995. I flew to Atlanta last week and sat through one cancellation and three maintenance delays. I've never experienced this kind of delay on any one trip since my first flights in 1995. For the pilot union head to blame this on an aging fleet is a complete pile of sh*t.

I received the same email from Mrs Rubin. I have nothing to prove the case she makes, but I sure as hell know you can't blame this on an aging fleet. It's pretty funny these delays coincide with the voiding of AA's pilot contracts. But, hey, what do I know...I'm just the d*&khead buying $1,500 tickets to NY on American...so much for loyalty.

Popcorn ready. 3..2..1.. GO!

Don't let the facts get in the way of a good rant!

Amazing that someone who has the means to spend that kind of money would use that kind of language.

Hmmmmm......
 

I always wondered what made the people that buy those tickets believe that they are somehow qualified to critique the decisions that the Pilots make? Got a lot of experience actually FLYING these jets, do you?:D :rolleyes: I'm just saying........

Hunterjah,

Let me give you the rest of the story. This airline, including the mechanics and pilots, are under extreme scrutiny from the FAA, because of largest fine ever against an airline, $162 million, for bad maintenance. The FAA is doing pre-flight inspections of both the interior and exterior of the planes, where they find items that need to be in the maintenance log. Some times the FAA tells the FO what he has found, which is great, but other times he does not tell the FO, just to see if these same items are reported. If those items aren't reported the FAA can fine the pilot for failure to report these items, which is $10,000!
Here is an example of what I am talking about. I showed up for a flight the other day out of DFW and the captain tells me that the FAA has done a preflight and there are items in the book that our maintenance was addressing, we took about a 30 minute delay to resolve these issues.

There are times we don't get to the plane until about 20 minutes before departure because of the way our sequence is scheduled by the company. We could be scheduled for 50 minutes on the ground, but have to change planes and terminals for the next leg of our trip. Our part one says we must tell the passengers good bye, which is good, but that takes 15-20 minutes, then we would have a 20 minute transit to the next gate which at best leaves us 20 before departure time. The FO still must do the preflight, which with this airline being watched more closely by the FAA, he does a very thorough inspection and takes his time so as not to miss even on little thing. So when he does find something that needs to be addressed that could possibly be 5 minutes before scheduled departure time. At that time maintenance is notified of the discrepancy and it is placed in the book.

So don't ever question our professionalism and commitment to safety! You have no idea what it takes just to get the minimum qualifications just to put in an application for a major airline. Many of us have served our country all of the world under very arduous conditions, and have lived to tell about it.

So don't question our integrity! Perhaps next time you should poke your head in the cockpit and tell the pilots thanks for a safe flight.

Dear mr. d*&khead,

You were on Eagle from ATL-NY, not AA. Our operation sucks because AA doesn't fund or invest in it or its employees and treats labor just as poorly as the APA is treated (if not a little worse, since AA feels Eagle is wholly expendable). See the trend here? Get your topside head out of your bottom side hole.

Retard.

It's. Ritard. Like Rainman.

I sat in first class DFW to LGA on a new 737 when the man next to me volunteered to inform me about the design flaws of the 737. Interior and ex. Ask me why American went with the design on the bulkhead. After some responses he informed me that he is a million miler and knows what he was talking about. I just went to sleep. We hadnt even left the gate.

And how exactly did I claim that I had experience flying these jets? No, I do not fly the jets, nor do I want to. Also, I have a ton of respect for pilots and the skill it takes to perform the job you do. My premise in my "rant" was why feed the machine by having a union talking head point to this being a fleet issue when it's easily clear to see a sudden increase in cancellations happening at the same time the contract dispute is in full swing. I am DFW enough to know something's up when the board is full of cancellations.

I know nothing about the tools unions use in labor disputes and nor do I want to. I read all 15 pages of another discussion on this board about the AA situation and it was fascinating to read all the comments about how pilots finally have AA's "balls in hand" (not my quote). Seems like a concerted effort to me, but again, I'm only a paying passenger, I couldn't possibly have an opinion in this matter as I don't fly the planes. I genuinely hope both sides can come to an amicable conclusion as I really do have 100% brand loyalty to American. I would love to see this airline back at the top as I think the employees deserve as much. Having followed this forum for 2 years because of a love of aviation, my intent is not to **** on pilots in a pilots forum, just very curious to hear so many varying perspectives about why there are 300 cancelled flights every day.

@Andy171773, sorry, I was on AA - DFW to ATL...

As a non-AA pilot, I find it comical how 'everybody knows' that the labor contract issue is the cause of the drop in reliability. Interestingly, every cited case of this alleged behavior is then refuted with a legitimate basis for the delay or cancellation.

I did a fair bit of DFW flying on my last trip. Did I see airport armageddon as some flyers and the media alleged? No. Everything appeared normal. No throngs of angry delayed passengers, no 'slow taxiing' AA/AE aircraft (as the know-it-alls in the coach cabin allege).

The traveling public has bought into the railroad job done by the very managers that drove the company into bankruptcy. Really convenient to use the rejection of a labor contract as cover to shift responsibility for your own reliability issues.

So, how do you explain a surge in cancellations and delays? Would really be interested to hear another reason. I'm pretty sure the AA fleet has been aging for "some" time...

Look at the rest of AA.
1)APA has been telling management of the need to hire pilots, to alleviate understaffing. Even though that's a WSJ link, you'll get the idea. Not working for AA, I'm still trying to find APA's statements from months ago, but telling management they need additional pilots to support the operation is not a new.

2)Thousands of mechanics, agents and support staff have found out that they are losing their jobs.
You think people want to give 110% to a company that's going to cut them? These affected individuals and families are worried about their lives and future and not AA now. Management told them they were expendable, and still expects them to perform as they have?

Dysfunctional organizations are rooted in bad management, not one labor group.

The reason for the majority of cancellations is "op adm", that is the company is cancelling the flights because of a lot of different reasons, but lack of crews and maintenance problems are not in this category. In fact there are maybe a handful of flights that cancelled yesterday for crews. They are cancelling flights that don't have a large amount of bookings, which they have done in the past, so as to save money. The pilots don't get paid for trips that are cancelled, not sure about the flight attendants. They also save on gas, wear and tear, landing fees and a multitude of other things.
So don't buy into the propaganda from AMR that the pilots are the problem here. This **** poor management team is the problem.

not sure if you read this link from another thread on the AMR bankruptcy, but if you're looking for a little information, this blog entry is well written and insightful. Thanks to 80kts for finding the link and posting it.

Risk Report » Blog Archive » Response to Fox News Biased Reporting on American Airlines

Very interesting blog. Yes, I saw this last night, but was a bit tired to read through. Looking at it now however, there was line that caught me as being so true...

"The difference is management philosophy at Southwest, Their CEO recently stated that the most important people for Southwest are not customers, but employees. Southwest believes that if they take care and respect employees then the employees will take care and respect their customers and business will be good."

That's an interesting management perspective that only made sense to me as I thought about it more. What's challenging for the flying public to relate to (and I'll be the first to admit) is how these different groups (pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, etc.) always seem to be at odds with the company and in turn one another regarding labor and contract negotiation/disputes. On more than one occasion last week, I had a gate agent lay the square blame of this issue on the pilots. So, in a sense, I see where the Southwest approach (while very touchy feely :) makes great sense.

Anyway, I've probably spent way too much time on this topic. Never meant to be disrespectful to the pilots profession or those outstanding pilots at AA. Just a frustrated passenger with no organized labor experience trying to navigate these waters...

By the way, was neat to see this was written by a former U2 pilot, one of the planes I am most fascinated by. James May of Top Gear fame had a rather cool series on the Dragon Lady!

Very easily,

Because during normal operations most Pilots routinely go above and beyond what is called for in the contract just to keep things moving along. Hustling through the airport, being proactive and taking action ahead of time to prevent delays. Calling not once but two or three times for a gate agent or mechanic when needed. Calling catering or for a fuel truck before it even becomes an issue. All the Pilots need to do to totally throw the system into chaos is to stop doing the "extra" things that are not contractual.

What motivation do the Pilots have to go above and beyond when the company goes to a judge and says "Through the contract out so we can impose terms on these guys?"

By the way, after the dust settles that same management team rewards themselves with million dollar bonuses for reducing costs and turning around the company.

The amazing thing is that management thinks they can pi$$ on labor and labor will just keep giving 110%.

Scoop

We have a winner! This is a BIG part of it right there. For years, the employees have gone over and above what is directed in the company operations manuals in order to actually make AA and AE run. We have known for years (and apparently management has NOT) that if ever these airlines were to be run strictly by the book, that near chaos would ensue. NO slowdown is necessary. A statement can be made by simply doing one's job to the letter.

In a new statement from Tom Hoban, I see more sense in what's being said. Basically, the implication to the statement below is more is/was happening behind the scenes to make the planes leave on time. Without a contract in place, pilots feel more concern in taking the extrra steps necessary to get these planes on their way on time all the time. OK, I'm starting to weed through all this mess!

“You’ve got to realize, without the safety net of a contract guys are going to engage in some cautious operational decision-making," says Tom Hoban of the Allied Pilots Association. "This corporation can come in at any time and terminate anyone for cause. So we're going to dot our “i's” and cross our “t’s. It's a lot like pulling up alongside a state trooper on the highway, How are you going to behave? Well, I'm going to go the speed limit. I'm going to use my turn signals. I'm going to do everything I can to stay within the limit of law. It's hard to describe the effect on how we operate, and it does tend to cause to be a bit more cautious because our license are on the line here.”

Hmmmmmmm
 

Hunterjah

"For the pilot union head to blame this on an aging fleet is a complete pile of sh*t"

"but I sure as hell know you can't blame this on an aging fleet."

So, do you know a lot about "aging fleets" or not? Because that's what your post suggests. Got a lot of aviation experience, do you? Riding in the back doesn't qualify as "Flight Time". Do you know anything about the experience and qualifications of the Pilots that are flying your airplane? Are you just jealous that we love what we do as jobs, it's just the management folks that leave a lot to be desired, in most cases. Why do you believe that since you buy a $1500 ticket and you've flown on AA since 1995 you possess any credibility when it comes to critiquing the decisions your pilots make? I, for one, appreciate ALL of our passengers business, but I doubt anyone from the front seats will be calling you when there are aviation decisions to be made. AA is a great airline. You can't go wrong. Trust the folks in front. Your safety is their number 1 priority. Patience young Jedi.

No harm or malice intended.


C Ya....Sluggo :)

P.S. I don't fly for AA and I didn't call you d*&khead :D

This is huge. The FAA specifically singles out carriers that are in economic jeopardy and inspects them more often and in more depth. There are red flags that go up when a carrier is having financial trouble, and the FAA does not want the public to be the victim of degraded safety due to cost cutting and economic issues. This is absolutely real.

I couldnt agree more. New money vs old money. Probably drives a lifted truck too.

You guys are too funny. Sorry, I drive a Merc.

Also, terribly sorry your virgin ears had to hear such dastardly language. I can see from so many constructive comments that pilots do speak no wrong. I will crawl back into my little back seat and shut up now like a good little b*tch (er, passenger, oh see there I go again) is supposed to do. I will politely poke my head in next time and say thank you and will never post anything that could be construed as questioning the integrity and professionalism of such a loyal and noble group.